| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Temuri Ketsbaia | ||
| Date of birth | 18 March 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Gali, Georgia, Soviet Union | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1986 | Dinamo Sukhumi | ||
| 1987 | Dinamo Tbilisi | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1987–1992 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 104 | (23) |
| 1992–1994 | Anorthosis Famagusta | 76 | (36) |
| 1994–1997 | AEK Athens | 84 | (24) |
| 1997–2000 | Newcastle United | 78 | (8) |
| 2000–2001 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 24 | (3) |
| 2001–2002 | Dundee | 22 | (6) |
| 2002–2006 | Anorthosis Famagusta | 99 | (39) |
| Total | 487 | (139) | |
| National team | |||
| 1992–2003 | Georgia | 49 | (16) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2004–2009 | Anorthosis Famagusta | ||
| 2009 | Olympiacos | ||
| 2009– | Georgia | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Temuri "Temur" Ketsbaia (Georgian: თემურ ქეცბაია) (born 18 March 1968 in Gali) is a Georgian football manager and former player. As a player he represented the Georgian national team and played for Dinamo Tbilisi, Anorthosis Famagusta, AEK, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Dundee.
Ketsbaia is often regarded as having played a major role in the revival of Anorthosis Famagusta and he enjoys iconic status at the Cypriot club, since in his time there he elevated the team to the most successful era in its history. Anorthosis in 2010 decided to retire his number, recognising his services.
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Born in Gali, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, he began his career with minor Georgian team Dinamo Sukhumi before transferring to Dinamo Tbilisi, the country's biggest team. He came to prominence whilst with Dinamo and earned a move to Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta FC in 1992 and then to Greece with AEK Athens FC, winning the Greek Cup with the club.
Under the Bosman ruling, Ketsbaia became a free agent and joined Newcastle United in the summer of 1997. A popular figure with the fans, Ketsbaia is not only remembered for his performance, but also for his bizarre celebrations, such as aggressively kicking the advertising hoardings (McDonald's and Adidas ones specifically) after scoring a goal against Bolton Wanderers.
As a Newcastle player, he participated in the 1998 and 1999 FA Cup Final against Arsenal and Manchester United. Although Newcastle lost 2–0 on both occasions, these matches were the highlight of his football career.
In the summer of 1997 newly signed Ketsbaia scored a goal in extra-time against Croatia Zagreb and won a place for Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.
He left St James' Park in 2000 to sign for Wolverhampton Wanderers and in 2001 joined Dundee.
After his come back to Anorthosis on 2002 he became crowds fan, and until now he is a true living legend. He was the first coach that formed and directed a Cypriot team up to the Champions League qualification, just before the semi-finals. His name has been signed to the golden pages of Cypriot football. Things that characterized him are his realistic way that he used to react, talk and handle the press.
He returned to Anorthosis in the Summer of 2002 as a player-coach. He became player-manager in January 2004. In his first summer he bought 11 players, mostly well-known ones, who helped the team win the championship title in Ketsbaia's first full-season as a manager.
In the summer of 2005, Ketsbaia entered the Cypriot football hall of fame as Anorthosis beat Turkish side Trabzonspor in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, despite being underdogs. However the following season was a disaster for Ketsbaia and Anorthosis as they finished 4th in the league and failed to qualify for Europe. In the summer of 2004, he made massive changes to the squad, bringing in eleven new players. He was hoping to re-establish Anorthosis as the dominant force in Cypriot football.
On 30 June 2007, Ketsbaia announced his retirement from professional football. His last match before retiring was held on July 14.[1]
On 28 September 2008, he threw his name in the ring for the vacant Newcastle managers position. In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, he said: "I had a great opportunity to play at Newcastle as a player, so why not as a manager?" [2]
In the 2008–09 season, Anorthosis, having Ketsbaia at the wheel, was the first Cypriot team in history to reach the group stage of UEFA Champions League, after defeating Olympiacos 3–1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round. In the group stages they beat the Greek team Panathinaikos 3–1, drew both games with Werder Bremen. They drew (3–3) at home, and lost away 0–1 to Internazionale Milan. In the final game they had the opportunity of finishing second, but Anorthosis lost 0–1 away to Panathinaikos. With Inter (who had already qualified) losing 2–1 away to Werder they finished in fourth place, missing out on a place in the UEFA Cup.
In the week before the match club directors had gone to the police complaining of financial irregularities being carried out by the club President who was forced to resign, despite support from Ketsbaia and club supporters.[3] Ketsbaia was reported as saying that he was no longer interested in coaching the team if the President was no longer running the club.
In April 2009, Ketsbaia stood down as coach of Anorthosis Famagusta.[4] On 25 May 2009 the chairman of Olympiacos announced that Ketsbaia had been appointed the club's manager on a three year deal, replacing Ernesto Valverde;[5] however, on 15 September 2009, Ketsbaia and Olympiacos parted company following early criticism from the club's supporters, despite Olympiakos not conceding a goal during his tenure.[6][7]
In November 2009 he was announced as manager of the Georgian national side, which he represented 49 times as a player. He claimed that while he could not promise a major tournament in the near future, the team would fight to reach one.[8] On 3 March 2010, Ketsbaia managed his first national team game, a friendly against Estonia in a 2–1 victory.
Last updated: 27 March 2011
| Nat | Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | GF | GA | +/- | ||||
| Anorthosis Famagusta | 2004 | 2009 | 109 | 73 | 26 | 9 | 66.97% | 218 | 83 | +135 | |
| Olympiacos | May 2009 | September 2009 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 83.33% | 9 | 0 | +9 | |
| Georgia | November 2009 | Present | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 41.00% | 11 | 8 | +3 | |
| Total Career | 124 | 82 | 32 | 9 | 66.13% | 237 | 87 | +148 | |||
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